W. Howie et al., TRANSGENIC TOBACCO PLANTS WHICH EXPRESS THE CHIA GENE FROM SERRATIA-MARCESCENS HAVE ENHANCED TOLERANCE TO RHIZOCTONIA-SOLANI, Transgenic research, 3(2), 1994, pp. 90-98
We have prepared independent lines of transgenic tobacco plants which
express high levels of the Serratia marcescens ChiA protein intracellu
larly or extracellularly (in glycosylated or unglycosylated forms). We
have measured the susceptibility of these plants to Rhizoctonia solan
i infection in greenhouse trials and in the field. Transgenic tobacco
plants which constitutively express the S. marcescens ChiA protein exh
ibit tolerance to the fungal pathogen R. solani. Disease tolerance is
observed in transgenic tobacco plants which express the bacterial chit
inase intra- or extracellularly. This is the first report to document
disease reduction in the field in transgenic plants engineered for fun
gal disease tolerance.